/ Aswen News/Guangzhou, January 23, 2022 -- Three years ago, in January 2019, before the Spring Festival travel rush really hit, and before the word epidemic was even in the dictionary of people's lives, Li Xunlei, a long-time financial economist, published an article titled "How many People in China have never taken an airplane -- Exploring Ways to expand domestic demand". It has been widely discussed.
Among them, the idea that "one billion people in China have never flown before" became the hottest topic at the time.
Though rigorous, he cited data and extended his own analysis and judgment, but the data was in sharp contrast to people's impression of the crowded scene at the airport, and many people were deeply skeptical.
However, others echoed him, saying the figure basically reflects the development of the domestic civil aviation industry - many people cannot afford to fly and there is still a huge potential customer market.
In addition to the high cost of flying, the process of flying is considered tedious and lengthy, while taking high-speed rail is relatively smooth. In the years since, we have also continued to see China's high-speed rail become the new "four great inventions", gaining global fame.
Recently, the "14" civil aviation development planning "presented in front of the public, this has always been a" conservative "temperament of the field is gradually toward the popular, its planning has been hot debate, airport digitalization, intelligent civil aviation, aviation Internet of things and so on become the meaning.
The digital deluge came after a long time of speed exploration.
The cult of speed and efficiency
Flight is a field with an ancient history. From the romance of Chang 'e flying to the moon to the ideal of Dunhuang flying, to the legendary flight of the Wright brothers, to Sun Yat-sen shouted "aviation to save the country", to Boeing and Airbus two tigers competing for power, and then to Musk's attempt to fly SpaceX space, flight dream to flight exploration, full of human worship for speed.
In recent decades, China's civil aviation has mastered its own pace through twists and turns. Flying has changed from a status symbol to a consumer option for ordinary people, indicating that this mode of travel has reached the masses.
The airport, which is accompanied by aircraft, is an air traffic facility and an important ground support system built for aviation. It plays the role of "escort envoy" from carrying a single aircraft takeoff and landing function to developing into a multi-function system.
In many cases, people's first experience at an airport determines whether they will go back to flying next time.
Airplanes in the sky pursue speed and safety, and airports on the ground pursue efficiency and experience. They are perfect partners.
In the world, China's airport throughput has always been the first, the world's top ten airports, China accounted for three. Even during the pandemic, China's airports have remained strong, and the country's airport cluster has become the busiest in the world.
In the face of the "14th Five-Year Plan for Civil Aviation Development", the upcoming spring population movement in 2022, and the future topic of smart airport and passenger service, Kunming Changshui International Airport in southwest China is a classic research sample.
According to preliminary statistics, in 2021, Kunming Airport completed 279,471 flights, a passenger throughput of 32.221,600 and a cargo throughput of 377,200 tons.
Behind the huge numbers is a test of service, efficiency test.
Behind the digital exploration and practice, let's trace the beautiful history of this airport.
In 1922, a place named Wujiaba in Kunming gave birth to the second airport in Chinese history, namely Wujiaba Airport. During the War of Resistance, the airfield was the main base, headquarters and terminus of the Hump route for the Flying Tigers. After the founding of New China in 1949, Wujiaba became one of the most important and busiest international airports in China.
It can be said that Wujiaba Airport has witnessed the rise of a nation and the change of a city.
As the passenger throughput increased year by year, it was far beyond the designed capacity of the terminal. At that time, the operation pressure of the airport was huge. Besides, as Wujiaba Airport was only 6.6 kilometers away from the city center, with the development of urbanization, the surrounding area was already surrounded by buildings, which did not have the conditions for expansion Yunnan's choice at that time.
The last flight left Wujiaba Airport at 22:00 on June 27, 2012, marking the official exit of Wujiaba Airport with a history of more than 90 years. A new airport covering an area larger than the Three Gorges Project appeared in the north of Kunming city.
Changshui, a new era of flight.
Digital "Big Questions" and wechat "Small Programs"
It is driven by the supremacy of efficiency that Kunming Airport has evolved.
Looking around the world, many airports are exploring their own potential, combining infrastructure operation services with digital services, and gradually transforming their business model from "infrastructure service provider" to "digital service operator".
Statistics show that with the exception of a few developed regions such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen, non-aviation business revenue (including traditional commercial retail revenue) accounts for less than 20% of the total revenue of the more than 230 civil airports in China at present, and this figure is likely to approach 30% in the next five years.
It has always been believed that as an important infrastructure carrying a large number of consumer behaviors and connecting with travel demands, airports need to rethink their business model of non-aviation business, so as to take advantage of their unique touch resource, further enhance their ability to grasp business opportunities of consumers in the digital era, and fully tap the individual consumption potential and value of "mobile phones".
In particular, passengers have increasingly high expectations for convenience and timeliness of travel services, and mobile digital technology has been fully integrated into all aspects of the life of the general public. With the deepening of the wave of digital reform and the constant change of consumer behavior pattern, major airports have begun to meet the diversified consumer needs of hundreds of millions of passengers through various digital means.
In Kunming Airport, taking passengers as the center and focusing on the personalized needs of different types of passengers in every link of travel, an airport mini program jointly created by Kunming Airport Group and Tencent emerged in the first half of 2021.
Small program can realize the digital identity of passengers bound on one ID. Through the unified entrance of small program, the whole process of airport services can be provided for passengers in the scene of arrival, departure, transfer and pick-up.
Sun Jinhui, general manager of the Information Technology Center of Kunming Changshui International Airport of Yunnan Airport Group, said, "From the perspective of passengers, shuttle staff and airport staff, we will experience how to provide services, from the perspective of arrivals, departures, transfers, pick-up and drop-off, we will consider all aspects. Since the simulation operation in early May, the number of registered users of the small program has reached 1.58 million, and the daily activity has exceeded 15,000 +. More than half a year, this is a large number of users."
In order to reach users quickly, especially to let more passengers at the airport use the mini program to improve traffic efficiency, the mini program is connected with the Yunnan epidemic code. The epidemic code and the national big data access card are put on the homepage of the mini program, and the daily epidemic prevention policy is also displayed on the homepage, so that passengers can easily control the epidemic prevention and control information.
If passengers can't find the check-in counter and gate of the flight at the airport, the mini program can also realize positioning and navigation to find the best route.
In particular, online shopping is also a very convenient function. In the "airport shopping" mini program, a variety of food, shopping, specialty products and other categories are available for passengers to check online. There are well-known brands and specialty stores for passengers to choose.
For tourists, tickets, hotel reservations and car rentals can also be booked on the mini program.
For the elderly, children and other groups, the mini program provides functions such as love service reservation, battery car reservation, and barrier-free parking reservation for the disabled and other passengers in need of special care, reflecting sincere services.
In order to improve user satisfaction, the project's R&D staff also set up service evaluation and complaint handling sections on the small program, bringing better experience to passengers.
More variables for "smart" airports
"Hopefully more people will use it and enjoy the convenience of digital is what we want to do now." Sun Jinhui expressed his thoughts.
It can be said that the lightweight Changshui Airport program gives the passengers to the south of Caiyun with a strange experience, but also brings a new atmosphere to Changshui International Airport.
Of course, the spread of digital technology does not stop there. It is understood that in 2021, Kunming Airport will realize "face-brushing travel", and has built a facial recognition system and a portrait data platform, covering all 59 domestic departure gates with face-brushing boarding services. A total of 33 face-brushing self-service security check and verification devices have been put into use, shortening the per capita security check and verification time from 12 seconds to 7 seconds, providing self-service security and verification services to more than 10 million passengers.
In addition, Kunming Airport is the first in China to achieve full coverage of WIFI 6 network in terminals. The WIFI Internet experience with no dead corners and high speed also provides basic support for the application of digital scenarios in the next step.
From the perspective of the industry as a whole, travel with one face will become widely used. Passengers can travel without probation with only one ID; To the end will also be replicated on a large scale, cross-airline baggage hanging solutions cover most of the domestic airlines.
Coupled with the emergence of products such as Changshui Airport mini program focusing on upgrading passenger service experience, once promoted in the industry, the four words of "smart civil aviation" will surely add more practical connotations.
The Internet of Things, AI, big data analysis, cloud computing, digital twin, unmanned driving, is stepping at the door of the airport civil aviation.
The beautiful vision of "people enjoy their actions and things enjoy their flow" is coming into reality from the paper. We are also fortunate to be the practitioners and beneficiaries of great projects.
